Sunday, November 20, 2011

NYFD firefighters remove 16-year-old Amber Thom after she fell through an open storm drain inside Kissena Park on Friday night. She broke her leg in the 15-foot plunge. (Image: screen grab-Eyewitness News)

Queens

By Geoffrey Croft

A teenage girl was rescued by NYFD firefighters after falling through an open storm drain inside a Queens park on Friday night, A Walk In The Park has learned.

Amber Thom, 16, a student at Arch Bishop Malloy High School was walking with five friends in a wooded area inside Kissena Park near Underhill Avenue and 168th Street in Auburndale about 10:30 p.m. when she fell through an open storm drain, according to NYFD officials.

The girl was walking on a log when she slipped and fell approximately 15 feet straight down through an open man hole cover.

Friends climbed down the drain to help her but were unable to move her. Friends called 911 at 10:35pm.

Engine 299 arrived first at the scene within five minutes. Within 20 minutes Thom was lifted out of the hole by firefighters. By 11:21pm Thorn and two friends had been removed from the sewer drain. The teen was taken to Long Island Jewish hospital where she was treated for a broken leg.

The manhole cover was found beside the opening. According to neighbors teenage kids often gather in the remote area of the park and sometimes explore the underground storm drains.

"If we had a real inspection program these things wouldn't happen," said an long time Parks Department worker who spoke on the condition of anonymity. "We have no workers and an administration that doesn't care."